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Advance UK News Diary

June 20-26: Rail strikes, by-elections and EU discusses Ukraine candidacy

Closed train barriers
June 17, 2022
  • Slice 1

A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda next week, from the team at Foresight News.

Leading the week 

Rail networks across the country will be brought to a virtual standstill from Tuesday (June 21) as Network Rail staff walk out in a dispute between unions and operators over pay and proposed job cuts. The first day of industrial action affects some 13 operating companies and coincides with a strike on the London Underground, and two further walkouts are planned for Thursday (June 23) and Saturday (June 25) in what the RMT union suggests will be the biggest rail strike for a generation. 

With commuters facing maximum disruption for most of next week and entire communities reportedly at risk of being cut off, the political blame game was in full swing as Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer clashed at PMQs amid competing briefings by the government and opposition parties. Describing the walkouts as ‘Labour’s strikes’, the Prime Minister accused Starmer of staying silent while the Labour leader accused Johnson of wanting to ‘feed off the division’ caused by the travel chaos. 

The rhetoric was ramped up even further at the end of the week as Transport Secretary Grant Shapps rejected a meeting with RMT officials, who he accused of failing to act in good faith, before warning workers about the potential impact of striking on their future employment and calling union bosses militant. There seems little chance, then, of a last-minute suspension, meaning the rows will continue through next week’s disruption and as further strike action looks likely to take place over the course of the summer.

Sign outside a home reading Liberal Democrats Winning Here

Thursday (June 23) is high noon for the Conservative Party as voters go to the polls in the hotly anticipated Tiverton and Honiton and Wakefield by-elections. The ballots, triggered by the resignation of Neil Parish and the conviction of Imran Khan, offer the most significant insight into the Tory party’s current national standing since its thumping 2019 General Election win. Tiverton and Honiton has been a party stronghold since 1997, and Neil Parish held the seat for the Tories with a majority of 24,239 in the last election. Parish’s Parliamentary viewing habits notwithstanding, the ongoing fallout from the partygate scandal and the deepening cost of living crisis have now maneuvered the Lib Dems into pole position to pull off a stunning victory.   

The real national bellwether though is the fight facing Boris Johnson in Wakefield – a key red wall target seat which he successfully turned blue three years ago. Imran Khan’s conviction for sexual assault has handed Labour a reported 20-point lead in the Yorkshire constituency, which if translated into votes on the day would leave the Conservatives with a sizeable crack in their northern bulwark as the next general election looms into view. 

If the stakes weren’t already high enough, rumours abound that Justice Secretary Dominic Raab will unveil his new Bill of Rights this week in an attempt to help prop up the government’s floundering asylum deal with Rwanda. A pre-polling day introduction would allow the Tories to focus minds on ‘taking back control’ of human rights law from Europe and potentially woo some undecided voters, though a roll-out immediately following two very plausible defeats could prove to be a timely distraction.


Looking abroad 

Three major international summits are set to dominate international news this week: a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels starting on Thursday (June 23-24), a virtual summit of BRICS leaders hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday and Friday (June 23-24), and the three-day G7 summit hosted by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz starting on Sunday (June 26). The Ukraine war and its sprawling ramifications, laid out in stark terms in a recent UN report, are set to cast a shadow over all three gatherings as the conflict enters its fifth month. 

Narendra Modi and Vladimir Putin shaking hands
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin

With Ukraine’s NATO aspirations shelved for the foreseeable future, attention has turned to its bid to join the European Union, and the question of whether to grant candidate status is set to be discussed at the European Council after a positive European Commission recommendation today. The BRICS summit, meanwhile, will allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to highlight the support Moscow continues to enjoy from strategic partners and counter claims Russia has become a global pariah as a result of its invasion. Complicating matters, at least two of the participants in the BRICS meeting, India’s Narendra Modi and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, are expected to participate in the G7 summit as ‘outreach’ partners, but have already faced criticism from the West over their neutral stances on Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also accepted an invitation to join the summit.


 

Also look out for...

June 20

Guildford pub bombings inquest opens 

EU foreign ministers discuss Ukraine 

June 21

Barbara Woodward address to RUSI on Ukraine 

Andy Burnham in conversation at IfG event 

Primaries in Virginia and DC; run-offs in Alabama and Georgia 

Summer solstice 

June 22

UK inflation figures 

PMQs 

National Windrush Monument unveiled at Waterloo Station 

Italy hosts World Meeting of Families 

Glastonbury Festival begins 

June 23

Boris Johnson addresses Commonwealth Business Forum  

David Lammy and Lord Frost at UK in a Changing Europe conference 

Ofcom releases BBC Performance Tracker report 

WHO Emergency Committee meeting on Monkeypox 

June 24

Tiverton and Honiton and Wakefield by-election results 

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting begins 

TfL emergency funding expires 

Ryanair workers hold three-day strike across Europe 

British Athletics Championships begins 

June 25

Wimbledon draw 

Statistics, reports and results

June 20

Housing purchase affordability stats (ONS) 

Rightmove House Price Index 

Results from: Associated British Foods 

June 21

Bank for International Settlements chapter on the future of the monetary system 

Property transactions in the UK 

June 22

UK house prices 

IEA World Energy Investment 2022 

June 23

UNODC World Drug Report 

UK public sector finances 

US Federal Reserve stress test results published  

Argentina Q1 GDP 

Results from: FedEx Corporation 

June 24

UK retail sales 

GfK UK consumer confidence barometer 

Anniversaries and Awareness Days

June 20

World Refugee Day 

June 21

Duke of Cambridge turns 40 

National Selfie Day 

June 22

National Windrush Day 

June 23

Olympic Day 

50 years ago: Sex-based discrimination banned in US schools (Title IX) 

June 24

One month ago: Uvalde school shooting 

Four months ago: Russia invaded Ukraine 

June 25

Armed Forces Day 

London Climate Action Week (to July 3) 

June 26

Seven years ago: Gay marriage legalised by US Supreme Court  

25 years ago: First Harry Potter book published 


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